German arts administrator engaged to Rufus Wainwright

Singer Rufus Wainwright, left, is shown with partner Jorn Weisbrodt in New York on Sept. 27, 2010. The couple plan a move from New York to Toronto. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Jorn Weisbrodt, a New York-based arts administrator who is also romantic partner to singer Rufus Wainwright, has been hired as the new artistic director of Toronto’s Luminato Festival.

The festival announced his appointment Thursday, saying he was chosen after a global search. German-born Weisbrodt, 38, starts his new job in January next year, replacing Luminato’s founding artistic director Chris Lorway.

Weisbrodt is currently director of the Watermill Center in New York and executive director of RW Work Ltd, which manages the work of theatre and opera director Robert Wilson. He has collaborated on projects with La Scala in Milan, the Spoleto Festival, the Barbican in London, the Lincoln Center and other international arts groups. Before moving to New York, he was active on the contemporary arts scene in Germany.

He is already involved with Luminato, the Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity, set to celebrate its sixth year in 2012. Weisbrodt has been working with Wilson on the remount of Einstein on the Beach, the Phillip Glass opera to be staged at Luminato in 2012.

He issued a statement saying he and Wainwright plan to move to Toronto.

"My partner and I are looking forward to making a home in Toronto, collaborating with the incredible artist and institutions that work here and becoming a part of the city and its cultural life," he said.

Wainwright, the Montreal-raised singer who brought his opera Prima Donna to Luminato in 2010, as well as his All Days Are Nights concert, proposed to Weisbrodt late last year. The pair, who have been together about six years, expect to get married next summer. They share parenting of Viva Katherine Wainwright Cohen — the daughter of Wainwright and Lorca Cohen.